Central Park
Central Park (Area US-447) is a large public, urban park (843 acres, 3.41 km², 1.32 mi²; a rectangle 2.6 statute miles by 0.5 statute mile, or 4.1 km × 830 m) in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, almost 4/5 of the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park and just over 1/3 of the size of London's Richmond Park. With about twenty-five million visitors annually, Central Park is the most visited city park in the United States, and its appearance in many movies and television shows has made it famous. Background The park is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization that manages the park under a contract with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, in which the president of the Conservancy is ex official Administrator of Central Park. Central Park is bordered on the north by West 110th Street, on the south by West 59th Street, on the west by Eighth Avenue. Along the park's borders however, these are known as Central Park North, Central Park South, and Central Park West respectively. Fifth Avenue retains its name along the eastern border of the park. Most of the areas immediately adjacent to the park are known for impressive buildings and valuable real estate. The park was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux, who went on to collaborate on Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a 106-acre (0.43 km2) billion gallon reservoir with an encircling running track, and an outdoor amphitheater called the Delacorte Theater which hosts the "Shakespeare in the Park" summer festivals. Indoor attractions include Belvedere Castle with its nature center, the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, and the historic Carousel. In addition there are numerous major and minor grassy areas, some of which are used for informal or team sports, some are set aside as quiet areas, and there are a number of enclosed playgrounds for children. The park has its own wildlife and also serves as an oasis for migrating birds, especially in the fall and the spring, making it a significant attraction for bird watchers; 200 species of birds are regularly seen. Of particular interest to New Yorkers has been the resident hawk population, especially Pale Male, a Red-tailed Hawk. When Olmstead designed the park, he does not seem to have made provision for predators, perhaps because his view of nature was not based on an ecological understanding. Pale Male and several other hawks simply appeared, overcame opposition from other birds and humans, and filled a long-vacant ecological niche. The 6 miles (10 km) of drives within the park are used by joggers, bicyclists and inline skaters, especially on weekends, and in the evenings after 7:00 p.m., when automobile traffic is banned. In Cloverfield During the final bomb run against the the monster, the chopper carrying Hud Platt, Rob Hawkins, and Beth McIntyre was attacked by the creature, causing the aircraft to crash land in Central Park. The pilots were killed on impact, the surviving group were roughly unconscious for a half hour. Beth was the first to regain consciousness and with the help of Hud pulled an injured Rob from the wreck. After the demise of Hud, Rob and Beth take shelter under the Greyshot Arch minutes before the HAMMERDOWN Protocol utterly destroyed the park. External links *Central Park on Wikipedia *Cloverfield Military Commentary